10,000 pedal for action in biggest bike protest

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Central London was overrun by 10,000 cyclists today, as the biggest bike
protest ever seen in the capital took to the streets.

The mayoral candidates Brian Paddick and Jenny Jones, as well as Simon Hughes,
the Lib Dem deputy leader, joined the ride from Hyde Park to Blackfriars,
which called on the candidates in next week’s local and mayoral elections to
make concrete pledges to make the streets safer for cyclists.

Mr Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate, said: “I personally am too afraid
to cycle on the roads and roundabouts in London and that isn’t right. We
need to review all junctions, especially those on the cycle superhighways.”

Ms Jones, the Green candidate, told The Times: I am here to celebrate
cycling and London has to understand that cycling is the future.”

A parallel event took place in Edinburgh, where more than 3,000 cyclists –
three times the turnout expected - rode down the Royal Mile.

In London, despite the steady rain, cyclists of all shapes and sizes - old and
young, male and female, lycra-clad and fancy-dressed - took over Piccadilly,
Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square and Victoria Embankment, chanting for
safer streets.

Parmy Boual was out with her three children, Anil, 8, Markus, 12 and Mandeep
10 and said: “I want to see safer streets for us as a family. My kids have
always ridden with us, in trailers when they were younger and then on their
own bikes. All road-users need greater awareness.”

Mr Hughes, cycling alongside reporters from The Times, said that more
secondary school pupils need to cycle and called for all new social houses
to include safe cycle storage and parking, to save people needing “to carry
bikes up four flights of stairs”. He said: “I have always supported events
like this and this is really good to see.”

Dr Ashok Sinha, chief executive of the London Cycling Campaign (LCC), who
organised the ride with support from The Times, said: “We got the
mayoral candidates to sign up to the LCC safer cycling campaign, and
thousands of people are here to witness that promise. we weill be going back
to them the day after the elections to see how they will act on it.”

Between them, The Times’s ‘Cities fit for cycling’ campaign and the
LCC’s ‘Love London, Go Dutch’ campaign have received more than 70,000
signatures, with cycling expected to be a potentially decisive issue in the
mayoral elections taking place this week in London, Liverpool and Salford.

Campaigners are calling on Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, who famously
cycles regularly in London, to defend his pro-cycling reputation in the face
of escalating casualties. One cyclist said: “At the moment, the cyclists’
vote is with Jenny Jones as first choice, and Ken Livingstone as second
preference.”

The organisers of the Pedal on Parliament ride in Edinburgh today are
expecting more than 1,000 protesters, after the deaths of two cyclists —
Andrew McNicoll, 43, and Bryan Simons, 40 — in the Scottish capital so far
this year. Sixteen cyclists have been killed in the Lothian area since 2000.
Sunshine is forecast for Edinburgh this afternoon.

“We’ve done nothing like this before,” said Dave Brennan, one of the
organisers. “It sends a strong message to politicians that people want to
get out on their bikes.”

On Monday the five major candidates for the London mayoral election will take
part in hustings hosted by The Times and the Sustrans charity. It
will be the only time that all the main candidates will come together to
debate cycling.

Although all the candidates have expressed their verbal support for The
Times’ Cities Fit for Cycling campaign, James Harding, the Editor,
told the Government’s cycle safety inquiry this week that more needed to be
done to make sure that “warm words are translated into action”.

In Edinburgh, because smaller numbers had been anticipated, no roads had been
closed for the ‘Pedal on Parliament’, leading to a handful of arguments with
irate motorists. One cyclist swore loudly at a car as it nearly knocked him
off his bike on Canongate, and two taxis turning up onto the same road were
also involved in a couple of close calls with the cyclists.

Dave Brennan, who organised the Pedal on Parliament, said: “We didn’t expect
these sorts of numbers. We didn’t know how strong the feeling was, obviously
we’ve struck a chord. People are coming form all over Scotland.”

But they reached Holyrood, where they were met by representatives from the
main political parties, each of whom said they supported the movement’s
agenda.

Before setting off, the campaigners held a minutes’ silence in memory of
cyclists who had been killed on Edinburgh’s roads recently.

Paul and Jenny Wilson, who joined the protest with their son Christopher,
said: “Coming from the north of the city to the south is quite tricky on a
bike. The cycle routes don’t join up.”

Gareth Dennis, 21, who is a student at Edinburgh University, joined the
protest after being involved in an accident on his bike. “I feel pretty
angry about the state of cycling. The attitudes of the British are all wrong
when it comes to cycling,” he said.

Alice Ennals Sumner, his friend, agreed: “The main problem is the attitude of
drivers. Part of being a driver is recognising cyclists.”

Meanwhile a cycling campaign in Italy which is affiliated to The Times’
Cities fit for Cycling mustered thousands of riders for a demonstration in
Rome.

Riding towards the Colosseum under the banner Veni, Vidi, Bici, they aimed to
bring attention to the city’s lack of provision for cyclists and poor road
safety record. To make their point the protesters dismounted and lay down as
though dead in the Via dei Fori Imperiali. “Policy in this country is made
for drivers,” said Alberto Fiorillo, one of the organisers.

Protest organisers said that more than 2,500 cyclists had been killed on
Italy’s roads over the past ten years, the worst accident rates being in
Rome and Milan.

Paolo Bellino, one of the cyclists, said that the most recent deaths were
those of a 54-year-old cyclist run down on Friday near Naples and a
14-year-old boy hit in Parma.

Sir Chris Hoy has called on the major parties to make “ambitious” pledges to
boost cycling in their manifestos, saying it would be a “dream scenario” if
the streets were safe enough for his infant son to cycle to school with his
Olympian father when he is older